How Can an Alignment Preserve Your Tire Treads?

If you’re finding it hard to keep up on all of the routine vehicle maintenance your car needs, you’re not alone! Many drivers find themselves lost beyond just doing the bare essentials—oil changes, wiper blade changes, light bulb replacements and the occasional recommended fluid flush. Don’t fret: there’s always something to be done. The key is being able to notice when maintenance is needed, before the opportunity turns into a fee for automotive repairs in Madison, TN.

One service that’s constantly overlooked is an alignment. We don’t pay much attention to this crucial service, simply because it often flies under the radar. The fact is, however, it’s extremely easy to tell if you’re due for an alignment: your car will be pulling or veering off center.

What makes an alignment so important? Well, for starters, it’s the key to keeping your tires’ treads in their best possible condition. A good alignment will keep them from rubbing against the wheel well during turns and can keep your treads safe from wearing thin in specific areas. Overall, good alignment improves the durability, longevity and performance of your treads.

Understanding Tread Wear

Tread wear on your tires is natural and there’s not much you can do to prevent it—you can only slow it down. Keeping your car’s alignment true is the first and easiest way to do this. A good alignment helps prevent the following types of premature tread wear:

• Toe and heel wear: This occurs when your car’s tires are pointed too far inward or too far outward, like being pigeon-toed or duck-footed. This creates a type of tread wear which affects the inside face of the tire.
• Feather edge wear: Caused by the off-kilter caster (angle) of your tires, this type of wear generally affects the ribs of a tire, causing outer or inner ribs to wear thinner faster than other parts of the tread.
• Shoulder wear: Caused by excessive camber (positive or negative tilt) in your wheels, this type of wear also occurs on the inner face of the tire, near the shoulder of the tire.

Each unique type of tread wear can deteriorate your tires, leaving them vulnerable to everything from potholes in the road to failure caused by age. Being able to spot the specific type of tread wear happening means being able to solve your alignment issue before it ends in a roadside tire change.

Get a Professional Alignment

There’s a lot more to an alignment than inspecting tread wear. It’s actually a very calculated process and requires state-of-the-art equipment—like the new Hoffman alignment machine recently purchased by Rivergate Muffler & Auto Repair. Machines like this calibrate the camber, caster and heel/toe alignment of your tires precisely, restoring complete balance to your car.

You might not be able to keep track of all the routine maintenance your vehicle needs, but make sure you’re not neglecting its tires! Nothing will have you seeking automotive repairs in Madison, TN faster than the tire issues that come from improper alignment and the tread wear associated with it.

Categorised in: Automotive Repair Service

This post was written by Writer